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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23667175">My Best Friend</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/wild_moors/pseuds/wild_moors'>wild_moors</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Baby Steps (Anime &amp; Manga)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-20 05:55:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>803</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23667175</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/wild_moors/pseuds/wild_moors</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Egawa Takuma has known Takasaki Natsu for nearly as long as he can remember.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Egawa Takuma/Takasaki Natsu (unrequited)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>My Best Friend</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>In other words, unrequited love is one of my favorite tropes, and I felt bad for Takuma.</p><p>Seriously, if you read the manga, that moment when he 'coincidentally' interrupts Ei-chan's confession...Takuma's face is just SO SAD and it makes me wanna give him a hug.</p><p>Also, it appears I wrote this at 11 PM? About a year ago? It's just been sitting on my computer, and since I'm all about making spontaneous choices these days, I figured I'd post it. I know no one's going to read it, because this fandom is way smaller than it should be, but eh. *shrug*</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>	Egawa Takuma has known Takasaki Natsu for nearly as long as he can remember.</p><p>	He knows she used to have a thing for pigtails when she was younger. Looking back on old pictures, it was quite adorable.</p><p>	He knows she can’t sleep without a nightlight. Paradoxically, he knows that she loves telling scary stories. When they used to have sleepovers, he would plug his ears and pretend to be listening while secretly hoping he wouldn’t have nightmares after, but he never did, not when she was there.</p><p>	He knows that her favorite foods are ice cream and cabbage. The first one he can understand, the second one is a bit of a mystery. She says there’s something deep about them having lots of layers, and that they’re underrepresented as foods with hidden depths compared to onions. He knows she goes off on philosophical tangents like that sometimes--it’s confusing and nonsensical and also completely hilarious and endearing.</p><p>	He knows that she adores dogs and wishes she had one, even though she’s allergic to them. He knows that she has about ten stuffed dogs in her room--five on her bed, three next to her bed, and two on her desk, even though they barely fit. She says that the two would get lonely if she split them up too far apart. He knows that she’s named all of them, and he knows their names, too, although he can’t be bothered to list them. He knows that she does not ever do things by half.</p><p>	He knows that she is easily amused. In matches, she has a look of unshakable focus on her expressive face, but when she wins, that expression breaks out into a huge smile, cheeks flushed with victory and exertion, and even though it was a little embarrassing, he would always reply to her “V!” sign with his own. And sometimes, she laughs so hard at the most ridiculous things that she looks like she’s crying, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands as she struggles to breathe, and her round eyes take on a shine akin to a prize medal under the summer sun.</p><p>	He knows that she is somewhat of an ugly crier. He’s had to be the awkward young best friend of the opposite gender who is patting their friend on the back while they cry on several occasions. There was one time when she lost one of her stuffed dogs at the mall, and she keeps a silly crayon drawing of him above her desk (although if he didn’t know better, he would not have recognized the drawing as a dog--not that he would ever say so). There was another time when she was being picked on by other girls in grade school, and she showed up to practice puffy-eyed and sullen. And then there were many times when she lost to that younger redheaded girl, Shimizu Aki, although she grew a tougher shell as she got older. He misses having her come to him with her troubles. While he might not be good at talking, he’s good at being awkward and patting people on the back mechanically as they cry--“they” refers mostly (entirely) to her from when they were younger.</p><p>	He knows that she worried about him after he lost so badly to Ike Souji, that she still worries about him now. He wants to reassure her that he’ll find a way to get his motivation back, but communication has never been his forte, and besides, how can he reassure her about something that even he’s not sure about himself?</p><p>	He knows that she loves tennis with a passion that he would challenge anyone to match. He knows that she originally wanted to go pro to catch up to Ike, although she says confidently that that’s changed now.</p><p>	He knows that she’s often more nervous than she lets on, especially in tournaments when there are expectations. He knows that she hates those expectations, even though she rises to meet and exceed them every time, and he tells her so.</p><p>	He knows that she’s kind. Energetic. Optimistic. Supportive. Intelligent. Vivacious. The bouncing ball of sunshine he can’t imagine growing up without.</p><p>	He knows he loves her, and he knows she doesn’t know. But he has never known how to say it, because he never knew if she even felt remotely the same way. He knows that she only sees him as Takuma, her best friend, and for some time, he saw her much the same way. Not anymore.</p><p>	And he knows now what kind of person will make her stare off into the distance while thinking about them, believe in them despite the odds, will make her smile and laugh and love like he’s never seen before.</p><p>	And he knows it’s not him.</p>
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